ROCK REVIEW

ROCK REVIEW; Gleanings From the Grab Bag, Obliquely Delivered

By ANN POWERS

Published: July 31, 2001

In the world of pop, vagueness is an underrated gift. Melodies that noncommittally wander around the brain can be just as potent as those that hit hard. And lyrics might just be better when they only half make sense, leaving more room for the listener to personalize the message. As in romance, pop love can hit harder when the attraction is inexplicable.

Pete Yorn, 26, a dentist's son who transplanted himself from New Jersey to Los Angeles, is the winner in this year's slippery-pop sweepstakes. ''Life on a Chain,'' the hit that crowned his Sunday night set at the Bowery Ballroom, borrows its bass riff from ''Judy in Disguise (With Glasses),'' an equally inscrutable 1960's novelty hit by John Fred and His Playboy Band, and its tone from a grab bag of reference points, including Tom Petty and the Psychedelic Furs.

What is this song about? A bad marriage, maybe, or a possible affair, or just a fantasy concocted by a dreamy guy in a coffee shop noticing the same girl every day in the corner booth. Most of Mr. Yorn's songs could be such fantasies. That's their considerable charm: they are daydreams made from hazy memories and hopes that haven't been pinned down.

Mr. Yorn himself was winningly fuzzy, a mop-top in a floppy T-shirt and jeans who seemed drolly amused at his good fortune. With a warm burr in his modest voice, he can do a credible imitation of Bruce Springsteen, and he started his set with a verse from that Garden State forefather's ''Racing in the Streets.'' Later he broke into ''Panic'' by the Smiths, a very different source of inspiration. That sense that Mr. Yorn ate everything on his plate when growing up in the 1980's illuminated his talent for writing songs that do not imitate but rearrange his influences.

His talented band was not too tight to maintain that nice lack of focus, letting the hooks in Mr. Yorn's songs emerge unexpectedly as his melodies built without fanfare. Some songs, like ''On Your Side,'' were breathlessly pretty, while others, like ''For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is),'' amiably rocked.

A sharper vision might be worth cultivating as Mr. Yorn matures, but for now his youthful scruffiness is just right. Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, the band that opened this show, could stand to learn how to not be pinned down. An impressive vocalist whose falsetto and chesty high range would make Robert Plant proud, Mr. Gnecco plays music that still comes too close in style to the late Jeff Buckley, for whom he briefly worked as a guitar tech. Some singers were born to soar and swoon, and Mr. Gnecco is one of them. But he needs to find a less familiar route to ecstasy.

Photo: At the Bowery Ballroom Sunday, Pete Yorn showed a range of influences, including Bruce Springsteen, a fellow New Jerseyan. (Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times)